The Saône

Week 55 — Sept 6th - 19th (Sally).

This has been an interesting two weeks as we celebrated not only the anniversary of our purchase of Sable but also a year since we started our first cruise. We remember the trepidation as we set out and the few hiccups along the way as we gained confidence and knowledge into managing our floating home. In spite of it being the first day looking and the first boat we actually inspected we are both still convinced that we have not seen a vessel that would have suited us better. In our travels we have seen such a variety of boats, the strangest was little more than a floating raft, tent on top and powered by a single outboard motor. They chugged past us on the Meuse and we saw them again after they had completed 200 kms on their way north again. There have also been a variety of converted barges in various stages of renovation from the magnificent to the "How did I ever think I could do this." Those are the ones that make us so thankful that we bought a new-built with no work required.

Our two days in Gray extended to a week as we attempted to have a repair done on our clothes dryer. The promise of a new part by Thursday extended to 'perhaps' next Tuesday so we gave up and proceeded without a working dryer. However the extended stopover was not without highlights. We were moored to a long stone quay and on Sunday were woken by the VNF guys to warn us they were opening the barrages to release water, the result of a deluge upstream. We watched most of the day as the level rose until, when it was ankle deep over our ropes, we moved across river to a higher quay. The rest of the night was spent with one eye on the weather but by morning it was all under control again. Canal cruising has many advantages over rivers. The Saône, even this far up, is a mighty river — one to be very wary of when it is in flood. Gray was an important river port in its day and it had a large number of wealthy merchants who built great buildings throughout the town. Unfortunately most of these are now converted to flats and although the original grandeur is there it is slowly falling away under its weight of years. The Office of Tourism in Gray had organised a two hour guided tour of the town followed by a degustation lunch of local specialities. What a bargain at 4€20. It was interesting to get inside some of the buildings that are not normally open to the public, such as the original pharmacy of the old hospital complete with a wall of ceramic pots for herbs and potions plus the scales and tools for preparing them. Another fascinating building hosted a staircase where the top portion revolved to close off the top floor. It was renowned as the hiding place of an outlawed priest who became the champion of the people of Gray when he saved them from the plague.

From Gray we travelled downstream to Auxonne. Napoleon attended the local military academy in Auxonne and they are very proud of that. The town square boasts a statue of a very young Napoleon and the large military presence is accommodated in The Bonoparte Quarter. In the tourist Office we noticed a poster advertising an Exposition of Vauban in the Arsenal. So we set out to explore and found the Arsenal but could not find an entrance or any sign of the exposition. We gave up and returned to the Tourist office where I picked up the poster and asked our friendly lady for help. She told me it would cost 2€, to which I replied "Yes, but where is it?" The answer was it's 2€ for the poster, the exposition was last year!!!! They give you maps, booklets, free mooring with electricity and water, then charge 2€ for an out of date poster...  Auxonne also turned on a host of functions for our Sunday entertainment. The local triathalon started early and all day we had extremely fit runners passing to remind us that we should do more exercise. At 11.00am there was the local band, a march of soldiers and firemen with a wreath laying ceremony at the War Memorial. Then an open day at the fire station where we watched the complete destruction of a car using "The Jaws of Life."

Monday we continued our way south but true to form diverted and started north again up the Canal Rhone au Rhin. This is the canal that eventually leads to the Rhine and up to Strasbourg but we only intended to do a couple of kms to look at one village. Two days later we are still heading north, drawn on by the promise of just one more stop until we reached the old town of Dole where the Canal joins the river Doubs. Dole would have to be one of the prettiest places we have been to. A fascinating town of lovely parks, narrow cobbled streets and high pitched roofs, all dominated by tjonhe magnificent Church and bell tower. Every view is postcard pretty and we were sorry to leave.  But it was time to turn south again and after a day cruising we finally made it to St Jean de Losne. It is known as the inland capital of boating and you can see why. We are moored in a huge basin, one among 200+ boats — all shapes and sizes and several shipyards where boats are being repainted, repaired or converted from commercial to live-aboards. The town itself is disappointing. With such a floating population we had expected it to be a bit more welcoming so today we have decided to have one more little diversion before we continue south. Tomorrow we head west, up the Burgundy Canal to Dijon. Its only a day or so and seems a shame to be so close and not get among the grape vines of Burgundy, especially now that they're in the thick of picking. We are still enjoying glorious, sunny weather although for the past week there has been a strong and very bitter wind blowing straight down from the Urals. The sun will soon cross the equator into the southern hemisphere and we'll be following close behind!